


All's Well That Ends Well

by siesiegirl



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Rumbelle Showdown, Rumbelle Showdown 2015
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-22
Updated: 2015-04-22
Packaged: 2018-03-25 06:35:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3800497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siesiegirl/pseuds/siesiegirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rumbelle Showdown 2015 Round Two<br/>prompts: Italy, dilapidated, Belle drives the Cadillac</p>
            </blockquote>





	All's Well That Ends Well

Belle wakes to find her husband's sweet brown eyes watching her intently, the early morning sunlight shining through the windows behind him and making it difficult to see anything other than them. "You're staring," she grumbles sleepily as she rolls over.

"And enjoying the view," he replies, grinning, and slides an arm across her waist to snuggle her close. "Pleasant dreams?" he murmurs into the side of her neck, which makes her squirm.

"Sort of a strange one, actually," she says, settling into him, his body warm against her back.

"Tell me." He kisses her temple. "What goes on in that brilliant mind of yours?"

"I dreamt we were in Italy." From what she'd read, it sounded beautiful and fantastical and perhaps the closest thing to their home this world without magic had to offer. She longs to see it in person.

"Italy?" Belle can _hear_ the smirk in his voice. "And what were we doing there?"

"I don't know how we got your car there, but we were driving through the countryside," she says. Long, winding roads through impossibly green landscapes and past lush vineyards. "Well," she adds, with a smirk to rival his, " _I_ was driving."

He laughs. "Is that a hint for me to teach you how to drive?"

"I wouldn't say no," she says, nudging his ribs with her elbow. It's hardly necessary, in a town as small as Storybrooke, and when they both go into town and back at the same times, but she wants to know, anyway, just like she wants to know everything else. 

"Always so independent," he says, though he sounds proud of it at the same time. "What else were we doing, driving through the Italian countryside?" He strokes her belly. She had learned to read the little movements of his hands and fingers, like a favorite book. His hands never lied, no matter what trickery he might be up to. She thinks she takes as much comfort from his touches and pettings as he does, and she hums happily at the thought.

"I think we were on our honeymoon." If only they _could_ leave. It would do him a world of good to get away from... all of this. Away from the townspeople who still see the Dark One when they look at him. Away even from Emma and Snow and David, who seem to forget how much he has helped them until the next time they need him again.

"Honeymoon, hm?" He nuzzles into her neck. "Some grand palazzo? With a big, sumptuous bed that we might not leave for a week?"

She's sure he knows what it does to her when he gets that tone in his voice. Just as she's sure that's why he does it. She clears her throat (and, she hopes, her head). "It was a villa," she says, "A little one, on a hillside facing the sea. It was old and beautiful, with roses climbing the walls." She closes her eyes again, and remembers the sunshine on the flagstones in the courtyard, the tang of salt in the air offering a counterpoint to the sweetness of the flowers. The utter silence except for the thrum of the sea far below. It was like nothing existed but the two of them right there and then.

"No, that will never do," he shakes his head, jarring her from her reverie. "Some dilapidated little bungalow, overrun with vines? Even if they are roses."

"It wasn't 'dilapidated,'" she insists, "It was... it had character." She'd thought it was heavenly. More than some glamorous palazzo would have been.

He laughs, a low rumble against her shoulder. "You do have a fondness for things with _character_ ," he says, "Though one wonders at your taste."

She smirks and turns over to face him, curling her leg around his. "I think my taste is just fine," she declares, and kisses him soundly.

He makes a pleased little sound and pulls her closer still as he deepens the kiss.

"I will never understand why you love me," he says, both of them breathless, and his fingertips graze up and down her back. "But I'll always be thankful that you do."

She smiles and tucks her head under his chin. "I'm glad you love me, too."

He kisses her hair. "Loving you is easy. I tried desperately not to and, well, you know where that got us."

She squeezes him. She forgave him for all that a long time ago, and she wishes he would forgive himself. "It got us right here, ultimately, so it turned out all right." She looks up at him again and smiles. 

He smiles back. That soft, hesitant smile that's more _him_ than the Dark One's manic grin ever could be. It's her favorite smile, in this world or any other. "That it did."


End file.
